Stellaride Episode Iniserts - Season 4
by RT219
Summary: One Shots written for each episode - written for the Stellaride Pairing


Season 4 X !5 - "Bad for the Soul"

Kelly heard a knock on his door and took a moment to finish a sentence in his incident report before he looked up. "Yeah?"

Matt looked at the paperwork on his desk. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure… just working on the report. You need something?"

Shaking his head, Matt leaned against the doorframe. "Just wanted to check in."

"Okay," Kelly shrugged, "so you checked in. Is that it?"

The smile on Matt's face was curious enough, but the fact that he was hanging around set Severide's nerves on alert. "Oh, hey, I should tell you we've got a new firefighter on eighty-one. Thought you should know."

"You wanted to tell me about a new firefighter on truck. Because?"

"Well, it's not so much that she's new but, apparently she worked with Gabby after training." Matt's chuckle was a little strained. "Yeah, they put on a little 'show' for the rest of truck when I introduced her. One moment Gabby's telling us she won't work with Kidd and then the next-"

"Kidd?" Kelly had his full attention on Casey now.

"Yeah," Matt shook his head, "Stella Kidd. Apparently, or at least according to the two of them, CFD split them up after a few months." Casey's laughter would normally have been contagious if it wasn't for the odd sensation twisting in Kelly's middle. "So it looks like I'm going to have my hands full with Gabby and Stella on truck."

Kelly's eyes widened a bit. "The two of them on truck-"

"Oh, come on," Matt sighed, "please tell me you're not going to make a crack about women on truck like Herrmann did."

"Herrmann?" Kelly's smile was real. "He made a crack like that?"

Matt nodded. "In front of them."

"Wow," Kelly's nerves still hadn't settled, "and you didn't call Ambo in for help?"

Pushing away from the doorframe, Casey shook his head. "Remarkably, it seems like Kidd and Gabby together are pretty mellow." He paused for a moment. "Then again, this could just be the calm before the storm."

Kelly met Casey's eyes and the two laughed. "Yeah, I'd be careful for awhile. I'd hate to see you limping in after going toe to toe with Dawson. Add Kidd into the mix and then-"

"You sound like you know her."

"Me?" Kelly had to swallow the lump in his throat. He didn't want to talk about Stella, not to Matt. Not until… "Not really. In passing, at a training course or something."

"Or something..."

Kelly could see the wheels turning in Matt's head. Getting up from his chair, he closed the folder and blew out a breath. "Hey, if there's nothing else, I've got to go over somethings with the rest of Squad."

He didn't miss the look on Casey's face, he just needed to get out of the way before Matt tried to stop him. It wasn't until he was halfway down the hall that felt the tension ease up from his shoulders. He needed to get out and get a breath of fresh air.

If Stella had been assigned to House 51, he was going to have his hands full trying to… trying to… figure out what the hell he was going to do about trying to pretend that there wasn't a whole lot of unfinished business when it came to Stella Kidd.

At least in his head.

And a few other places.

But if he was also being honest, he was a little afraid at what her reaction was going to be. And then there was the matter of her… husband, Grant. The last thing he needed was a jealous husband showing up at 51, stirring up trouble.

By the time he looked up, he was halfway down the block. Kelly turned around to head back to 51 and saw two figures exit through an open bay door on the Apparatus Floor. He didn't have to see their faces to know who they were. Gabby and Stella.

Stella, who if it was possible, looked even better than she did before. Damn.

This is going to be hell.

Gabby said something, and Stella laughed. That laugh…

It went right down his spine and all over his skin, making every damn inch tight and warm.

Her laugh. It was just her laugh.

What was going to happen when he got close enough to look her in the eyes. When he shared a table during meals. Shoot him if he bumped into her in the locker room.

An alarm beeped on his watch. Almost the end of shift. All he had to do with dodge Stella long enough to grab his stuff out of his locker and then he'd have forty-eight hours to shake off this sense of dread… and the anticipation of seeing her again.

He cursed under his breath as Gabby and Stella headed back inside.

Just a little bit of time and he'd be free.

#

Kelly walked into Molly's and realized that he'd been fooling himself. If he'd really wanted to keep things… cool. If he really wanted to keep away from Stella. Well, he would have stayed home.

It didn't take long for him to find her in Molly's. Stella, well, she was one of a kind.

She wore her hair down and hadn't bothered to try to tame her curls. And he was… thankful for it. Sure, it wasn't going to help him concentrate, because he'd had… thoughts about her hair. Many… many thoughts.

God Bless Stella Kidd's hair…

And every other inch of her.

He walked across the room. "Hey, Kidd." That's right, Kelly. Keep it calm… Keep it cool.

"Hey…"

Red lipstick. Sh*t. And a yellow sweater that graced every inch of her gorgeous body.

What was I saying again? "How was your first shift?"

… so far, so good…


End file.
